Jermaine O'Neal looked really good tonight

[Rondo2287]

This Morning Tanguay was on T&R, and he was talking about JO.  Talked about how good he looked but then said he wasn't a starter.  If Nenad is out for an extended period of time, and Shaq can't play more then 20 minutes, arent we going to see a ton of JO if he is able to give it?


Also does anybody know he if is playing tonight?  I question it since it's a back to back.

[StartOrien]

This Morning Tanguay was on T&R, and he was talking about JO.  Talked about how good he looked but then said he wasn't a starter.  If Nenad is out for an extended period of time, and Shaq can't play more then 20 minutes, arent we going to see a ton of JO if he is able to give it?


Also does anybody know he if is playing tonight?  I question it since it's a back to back.

Gary Tanguay is an idiot

[Assassin70]

Oh please; I've been one of JO's biggest supports all year.  Where are all the haters now???

All the haters only come around @ the low periods.  When someone is doing well there are few haters.

When JO has 1 bad game you wont be able to escape the haters.

[CelticG1]

This Morning Tanguay was on T&R, and he was talking about JO.  Talked about how good he looked but then said he wasn't a starter.  If Nenad is out for an extended period of time, and Shaq can't play more then 20 minutes, arent we going to see a ton of JO if he is able to give it?


Also does anybody know he if is playing tonight?  I question it since it's a back to back.

As far as I know he is supposed to be playing in back to backs or no limitations. Obviously we have to see how he is feeling today but I'm assuming and hoping he plays.

I think as for JO starting he probably won't. He is just coming back so they will bring him slowly and Shaq should be back probably by the time JO would be able to start anyway.

Big Baby will start at Center in the meantime. He replaced Nenad to start the second half after the injury but he also replaced him the game before when he wasn't injured.

I think we will see a lot more of JO but I don't mind Baby starting in the meantime. JO needs to get familiar with the second unit and IMO Baby has been in the system long and enough and has excelled with the first and second unit. He also usually ends the 4th quarters with them so why not start the 1st quarters for now as well

[CelticG1]

Love how JO took a charge last night as well. It wasn't called and don't even know if anyone noticed but thats a good sign.

probably a little late to catch up to Baby's charge count. Hopefully their wager wasn't too big

[csfansince60s]

The whole time JO was in I was watching him closely as I am sure many of you did.

I remember a couple of times Tony or Manu were driving the lane, and Jermaine slid, and they were either forced to pull up or dish it for a long 3.  It was so refreshing seeing somebody making a defensive slide, commiting to it and stopping easy layups.

Those kind of things don't show up in the stat sheet but jumped off the screen for me.  Did anybody else notice that? or am I making to big a deal out of nothing?

TP. I too watched him closely and saw the same things. I even DVR'd the game knowing I wasn't going to be able to watch the replay on Comcast so I could replay and focus in on the times he was in more.

In answer to your question on back to backs from JO's own mouth the other day (but who knows what today will bring), he says "Yes" pretty pointedly.

Quote
“I’m going to play tomorrow," O'Neal said. "We talked a little bit about me playing back-to-back games. Obviously, it’s sensitive, but I told them the plan is to play back-to-back games, the plan is to play as many minutes as I can without limitation.”

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/2011/03/oneal_expects_t.html

Love these words from JO!!

[Cman]

I thought JO looked good last night (except when Parker blew by him -- sort of like shooting fish in a barrell I guess).

Hope that his knee would hold... No swelling after this game...

^But I completely agree with this.  The key will be seeing how JO responds to his first game back.  I guarantee you he is sore today, but hopefully not the knee more so than anywhere else.

[SHAQATTACK]

What a tuff next game back to back after the classic Spurs matchup (full bore ) effort at a good teams homecourt.

I wonder if Doc will even try to win tonights game, or just rest PP, KG, JO , RR, and RA.

Will Chris Johnson have to come back for the SEASON?

[StartOrien]

What a tuff next game back to back after the classic Spurs matchup (full bore ) effort at a good teams homecourt.

I wonder if Doc will even try to win tonights game, or just rest PP, KG, JO , RR, and RA.

Will Chris Johnson have to come back for the SEASON?

I believe he's w/ Portland for the remainder of the season. Blazers or OKC

[bbd24]

Kudos to JO for working hard and staying in shape despite his injury. Not easy to do being away for so long . Nice work !

[Bankshot]

Oh please; I've been one of JO's biggest supports all year.  Where are all the haters now???

Yep.  I can understand the haters thinking he's injury prone and therefore might not be able to help the Celtics, but some were saying he sucks.   This guy has been an allstar and is a really good defensive player.

[nickagneta]

What I liked about Jermaine O'Neal last night:

- his lateral movement was night and day better than earlier in the year as witnessed by that blitz move he put on Hill in the 3rd quarter played him tough outside and then switched back to Duncan, His lateral footwork and speed surprised Hill, me and even the announcers.

- his speed up and down the court was so much better than I would have thought he would be at, at times looking faster than KG, as has been mentioned.

- the elevation on his turnaround jump shot was very good and looked to be in very good form.


What I didn't like about Jermaine O'Neal last night:

- he has caught sometimes in the decision process as to whether to rotate on the dribble drive or box his man out. So for much of the time he was in, defensively, the Spurs went to the rack and either scored because JO didn't rotate or the Spurs got an offensive rebound because he didn't box his man out. Zero defensive rebounds in 11 minutes is not good. I attribute this to rust and still not being comfortable in this defensive scheme as he has played sparingly this year.

- Lack of aggression on offense. He had Bonner on him for quite some time and he needed to call for the ball and exploit that. JO hasn't been aggressive offensively since Indiana and at times he has to be because he has the size and talent to dominate some guys underneath. This has been a pet peeve of mine with him since he left Indiana though and I don't know if it will change.

- Not enough minutes. Yeah, this isn't his fault but I think you should have had him out there at least another 4 minutes in the second half. We won so this complaint is a bit hollow but I still would have liked to see what he could have given for a few more minutes.

[Tai]

This Morning Tanguay was on T&R, and he was talking about JO.  Talked about how good he looked but then said he wasn't a starter.  If Nenad is out for an extended period of time, and Shaq can't play more then 20 minutes, arent we going to see a ton of JO if he is able to give it?


Also does anybody know he if is playing tonight?  I question it since it's a back to back.

As far as I know he is supposed to be playing in back to backs or no limitations. Obviously we have to see how he is feeling today but I'm assuming and hoping he plays.

I think as for JO starting he probably won't. He is just coming back so they will bring him slowly and Shaq should be back probably by the time JO would be able to start anyway.

Big Baby will start at Center in the meantime. He replaced Nenad to start the second half after the injury but he also replaced him the game before when he wasn't injured.

I think we will see a lot more of JO but I don't mind Baby starting in the meantime. JO needs to get familiar with the second unit and IMO Baby has been in the system long and enough and has excelled with the first and second unit. He also usually ends the 4th quarters with them so why not start the 1st quarters for now as well

Honestly, I don't see why JO would not start. Doc prefers BBD coming off the bench whenever it's feasible, and at the end of the day, JO starting doesn't mean BBD won't have more minutes then JO and/or not close the game.

I mean, if BBD starts, then fine, but it's been pretty well documented that Doc prefers BBD being off the bench.

Also, BBD would usually start if KG was out, not our starting center, and that's how it probably should remain.

[Prof. Clutch]

Big ups to O'Neal for stepping in and playing as well as he did.  I feel like it's a long shot (even with his lost weight) that he can stay healthy for the long haul, but if he can he'd clearly be a great boost to our interior.

[pearljammer10]

So glad to finally see him playing. He is going to give this team a much needed boost and is going to be great come playoff time... Now if we can only get Shaq back for 15 or 20 minutes a game.